Fidgeting and Body Weight

Scientists have already discovered that some people tend to fidget and move more than others, which helps them burn more calories. Now research has shown how this trait is hardwired in the brain. Obesity specialists bred rats to inherit obesity or leanness and then studied their differences. From an early age, genetically lean rats engaged in more restless activities—grooming, getting up, moving around—and put on fewer pounds than genetically obese rats, despite being given the same amount of food. The researchers determined that the lean rats' brains responded more to the presence of the hormone orexin A, which stimulates a sense of wakeful arousal and, in turn, increases movement and energy expenditure. In the future, drug treatments could be developed to increase sensitivity to this hormone; in the meantime, nonfidgeters should try to get up, pace about, and find other ways to engage in more low-level activity, suggests study coauthor Catherine Kotz of the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of Minnesota. "Small movements throughout the day can have a big impact on body weight," she says.